Queen of Heaven
The Queen of Heaven was an epithet used by many cultures to refer to a sky goddess throughout the ancient Mediterranean and the ancient Near East (Ishtar, Astarte, Inanna, Isis, Nuit, etc.), as well as the Christian Madonna / Mary.
This piece explores the juxtaposition of the Islamic form of stained glass window, the qamariya, with medieval glass painting, a European Christian tradition and representational art. It examines the cultural melding influence of the migration of Islamic culture through Africa and into southern Spain which heralded the European Renaissance.
Using the traditional methods of transferring a design of Islamic geometry and piercing plaster by hand to create a gypsum window grill featuring pieces of colored glass (called qamariyas: moon-like, or shemsiyas: sun-like in Arabic), I incorporate medieval kiln-fired glass painting in order to tell a story, to provoke inquiry, to rekindle meaning.
The dual faces invite polarity: Sun/Moon, open/closed, awake/asleep, conscious/unconscious, divinity/humanity, feminine/masculine. By invoking polarization, non-binary neutrality is generated as a unifying force.
Fine Art Segment (Freestanding Stained Glass)
21 x 13 x 2
$6,600.00
10.5
Materials List
Kiln-fired painted stained glass, Plaster, Wood
Artist Statement
I was born in Buffalo, NY in 1979 and began my training in 1993 as a young artist at the Buffalo Arts Studio under its founder and first director. After several decades of a successful career as an international oil painter, I earned my master’s degree from the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London, where I studied medieval stained glass and Islamic geometry.
My work is rooted in symbolism, history, mythology and tradition. I recognize originality as a return to the binary origins of life: Nature and Geometry. It is this understanding which enables me to create contemporary art through living traditions. Through my work, I explore the intersections of humanity and nature, culture and tradition, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, religion and spirituality.
Through engaging with slow, deliberate processes, utilizing materials that come directly from the Earth, I connect to my origins, both literally through physical contact with the substance, and symbolically, through my emulation of the creative processes of nature. Careful practice and devotion to handmade craft necessitates a return to a sustainable pace, while the use of traditional materials serves as a means for reconnection to nature.
As a contemporary artist participating in a living craft, I strive to communicate with the spirit in my materials, seeking a state of oneness. Technique manifests as a dialog with the elements and an acknowledgement of the delicate web of interdependence that unites humankind with all of life. The single-pointed focus of attention on the creative act becomes an observance; a contemplation of the celestial order of the living universe and an expression of reverence for our home within it.
